Load supporting pallet and crate structure



Dec 23, 1952 B. 0. con, JR 2,622,830

LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET AND CRATE STRUCTURE Filed June 16, 1950 4Shets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TOR. BweTo/v CT Corr, JR

Dec. 23, 1952 B. c. con, JR 2,622,830

LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET AND CRATE STRUCTURE Filed June 16, 1950 4Sheets-Sheet 3 5? .52 51 51 .51 xi/ Lin M44 O n l U D Q D O U D /O.F\D Dn D O D D O D D D 41 59 5 z 5 40 4o Jig-.6

IN V EN TOR. BuErO/V C. 6017; JR.

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Dec. 23, 1952 B. c. con, JR

LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET AND CRATE STRUCTURE Filed June 16, 1950 4Sheets-Sheet 4 m Y Q m INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 23, 1952 LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET AND CRATE STRUCTURE BurtonC. Coit, Jr., Washington, Pa., assignor to Tri-State EngineeringCompany, Washington, Pa., a corporation of Maryland Application June 16,1950, Serial No. 168,455

7 Claims; 1

This invention relates to load-supporting pallets, and particularly tothose which are especially suitable for use with lift trucks of eitherthe fork or the platform type, and comprises a modification of and animprovement upon the pallet described and claimed in my applicationSerial No. 125,3{l0, filed November 3, 1949, now Patent No. 2,576,672.

One object of my invention is to provide a pallet of the characterdescribed which will be more resistant to bending under loads than arepallets of various forms that have heretofore been made of light-weightmaterials such as metal rods and strips, and prior pallets usuallyrequiring more than four legs to support the loads, whereas my palletrequires legs only at the four corners of the structure.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pallet having betterclearance for the entry of lifting forks and lifting platforms. than isthe case of various forms of pallets heretofore employed. r

A further object of my invention is to provide a pallet which has amplestrength without the necessity of employing a base frame that restsdirectly upon the floor and connects the lower ends of the legs, andwhich, nevertheless, is of light weight for a given capacity.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a pallet that can bealined and stacked conveniently upon crates, with better distribution ofload upon the side and end walls-of the crate, and which will reinforcethe corners of the crate against distortion under horizontal thrusts.

Some of the forms which my invention may take are shown in theaccompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a bottom plan View of oneform of pallet; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof; Fig. 3 is anend view thereof, and showing the manner in which it can be stacked upona crate; Fig. 4 shows a modification of the pallet of Fig. l, ininverted position; Fig. 5 is an enlarged view taken on the line V--V ofFig. 4; Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the pallet of Fig. 4; Fig.7 is an end View thereof showing the manner in which a crate side wallwill rest upon the pallet; Figs. 8 and 9 are face and edge viewsrespectively showing the manner in which the end walls of a crate mayhave hooked engagement with the pallet; Fig. 10 is an expanded viewshowing the manner in which the crate side walls are hinged to thepallet deck and how a vertical edge of each end wall is hinged to theside walls; Fig. 11 is an end view of one of the side walls of thepallet; Fig. 12 is a view showing a portion of a side wall and themanner in which it has latched engagement with an end wall, and Fig. 13is an edge view of the latch bar of Fig. 12.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3, the pallet comprises a deck sheet ofwires l5 and I6 welded together in relatively crossed relation. Forpallets of say 40 inch by 48 inch dimension, these wires may suitably beof No. 2 guage, although the marginal wires will preferably be somewhatheavier, including retaining rods I! that are welded to the uppersurfaces of the mesh |5-l 5, at the ends of the deck, to hold thevertical wall against slipping off the deck. An underframe is providedfor the deck and welded thereto. This frame compriseslongitudinally-extending bars l8 that are preferably of tubular form andperhaps /2 inch outside diameter. Near their ends, these tubes are bentdownwardly and outwardly in a sloping direction as shown at [9 and havehorizontally-extending portions 20 that rest directly upon the floor.Other bars 2| are also bent downwardly and outwardly as shown at 22,with horizontally-extending portions 23 that can rest directly upon thefloor and which, at their ends, are welded to the ends of the bars [8 asshown at 25. The deck sheet is, of course, welded also to these bars 2!.

Reinforcing bars 26 and 21 are welded to the underside of the deck, theinner ends of the bars 21 being butt welded to the bar 26. These bars262'| may likewise be of tubular form. At its ends, the bar 26 is weldedto brace bars 28 which may be of 2; inch tubing. The bars 28 arepreferably of 22 inch tubing. The bars 28 are, in turn, welded to bars29 whose ends are welded to the bent portions l9--22 of the side and endbars. Similarly, the outer ends of the bars 2? will be welded tosupports 3| that extend upwardly frombars 32.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 3, the bars 29 and 32 serve not only toafford support for the outer extremities of the bars 262l, but serve asa means for stacking the pallet on the crate walls of another pallet.The outwardly-projected portions of the bars I8 and 2| are relativelyflared and partly embrace the corners of the crate and the bars 29 and32 rest upon the upper edges of the crate walls, in diagonalrelationship thereto, so that the load from an upper pallet isdistributed between the end walls and side walls of the crate, and theflared leg structures which partly embrace the panels at the corners ofthe crate, not only facilitating the alinement and stacking, but firmlybrace the crate panels against horizontally-imposed stresses in diagonaldirections.

Where still greater strength is required in the underframe, additionaltubes 33 are provided and are welded at their ends to the bars 2'l26.These also give greater bearing surface for the lifting forks.

The side panels of the crate are hinged to the deck as indicated at 35in Fig. 2 and the other vertical walls are hinged to the side walls aswill be hereinafter explained and as shown in my said application.

Referring now to Figs. 4 to 9, a reticulated deck that corresponds tothe mesh deck of Figs. 1 to 3 is indicated generally by the numeral 36.Vlelded to the underside of this deck is an underframe comprisingtubular bars l8 and 2| that are formed as are the bars 18 and 2| ofFigs. 1 to 3. In this arrangement, the reinforcing bars are disposed inright angular relationship to one another as shown at 31 and 38, theinner ends of the bars 38 being welded to the sides of the bar 31 andthe extremities of the bars 38 being welded to the inner sides of thebars l8, while the ends of the bars 31 are welded to the inner faces ofthe bars 2!. Here too, the bars 3l38 may suitably be of K inch tubing.

At the corners of the pallet, a supporting rod 35 is welded to the upperportions of the bars l8 and 2| and to the underside of the deck, thusaffording support to the deck at those locations. A second supportingbar 46 is welded to the lower portions of these bars i82|, and a slopingstrut 4| is welded to the bars 39 and 48. The bars 48 will respectivelybridge and rest upon the side and end panels at each corner of thecrate, and some of the weight imposed thereon will be transmittedthrough the struts l! and the bars 39. These bars 39--4E!4l willpreferably be of /4 inch tubing.

The bars 2932 of Fig. l and 50 of Figs. 4 and 5 are positioned near thelower ends of the legs, so that when stacked as shown in Fig. 3, a liftplatform or forks can be inserted between the upper edges of the lowercrate and the underside of the upper pallet.

While various forms of crates may be employed with the decks of Figs. 1and i, in Figs. and 11, I have shown crate panels that are particularlysuitable for use with the deck of Figs. 1 to '7. In this case, the deckpanel is indicated by the numeral 43, one of the side panels by thenumeral 44 and one of the end panels by the numeral 45. The side panelsare each hinged to the deck by a spiral wire 55 and the end panels arehinged to the side panels by spiral wires 47, at diagonallyoppositecorners of the deck, the free edges of the vertical panels being latchedto the side panels at diagonally-opposite corners of the deck as will behereinafter explained. When the latches are released, the side panels 44and the end panels 45 can be folded in generally flatwise relation toone another and to the deck for convenient storing of the pallets andcontainers.

As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the end panels have hooks 48 that willproject through the deck and hold the end walls against excessivebulging under internal pressures. The side wall 44 of Fig. 10 is shownas having additional reinforcing rods @9 welded to its inner surface.Similarly, the deck of Figs. 6 and 7 has additional reinforcing wires 5|welded to its upper side and having their extremities bent down slightlyas shown in Fig. '7, stop members 52 being welded to the deck, tothereby form what is, in eifect, groovedrecesses to receive the loweredges of the 4 side walls 44 whose lower edges are contracted slightlyas shown at the left hand of Fig. 11 and in Fig. '7, to thereby assistthe spiral hinges 46 in resisting horizontal thrusts by the loadcontained within the crate.

In Fig. 12, I show the manner in which the free vertical edges of theend panels 45 are latched in upright positions, to the side panels M, atdiagonally-opposite corners of the crate. The numeral 54 represents avertical rod or bar on the free edge of one of the end panels and haswelded thereto a bent rod 55 to form a loop for a latch bar 56 that isloosely supported on horizontal bars of the adjacent side panel 4 InFig. 10, the latch bars 56 are shown in their release position. Afterthe vertical free edge of the end panel 45 and its loops 55 are broughtinto assembled relation with the side panels, the latch bars will beslid upwardly from the position shown in Fig. 10 and slid horizontallyuntil their lips El extend through the loops 55, whereupon the latchbars will be released to drop into the position shown in Fig. 12.

I claim as my invention:

1. A pallet comprising a deck sheet secured upon an underframe ofgenerally rectangularlyarranged bars that are respectively disposedbeneath the deck adjacent to and generally parallel to each edgethereof, those portions of each bar near the corners of the deckextending laterally in a downwardly and outwardly sloping direction, andthence extending horizontally and welded to the similarly formed portionof the adjacent bar end, to thereby form legs and feet for theunderframe, the sloping leg portions being connected by a horizontal barat a plane above the horizontal foot portions and the foot portionsbeing disposed at right angles to each other, at each corner of thepallet.

2. A pallet comprising a deck sheet secured upon an underframe ofgenerally rectangular form having bar-like portions respectivelydisposed beneath the deck along lines adjacent to and generally parallelto the deck edges, leg portions extending downwardly from each of thebar members, at points set backwardly from the corners of the deck, ahorizontal cross bar connecting the two leg members at each corner ofthe pallet structure, on a diagonal line at a plane above the lower endsof the leg members, a strut extending upwardly from each cross bar, andanother deck-supporting member interposed between the upper end of thestrut and the deck.

3. A pallet comprising a deck sheet secured upon an underframe ofgenerally rectangular form having bar-like portions respectivelydisposed beneath the deck along lines adjacent to and generally parallelto the deck edges, leg portions extending downwardly from each of thebar members, at points set backwardly from the corners of the deck, ahorizontal cross bar connecting the two leg members at each corner ofthe pallet structure, on a diagonal line at a plane above the lower endsof the leg members, a strut extending upwardly from each cross bar, andother deck-supporting members interposed between the upper ends of thestruts and the deck, the last-named deck-supporting members being in theform of bars that extend across the underside of the deck at areas whichare remote from said struts.

4. A pallet as recited in the next preceding claim, wherein thedeck-supporting members are in relatively crossed arrangement at thecentral area of the deck and have their ends secured to the saidbar-like portions.

5. A pallet comprising a deck sheet, an underframe therefor havingtubular bars respectively disposed beneath the deck adjacent to itslongitudinal edges, and engaging the under side of the deck throughoutthe major portion of its length, the ends of the bars extendingdownwardly to form spaced legs adjacent to each corner of the deck, andtubular brace rods each extending diagonally from one corner to anothercorner, in relatively transverse directions and in direct engagementwith the under surface of the deck, the extremities of the brace rodsbeing secured to the bars at the said legs.

6. A pallet comprising a deck sheet, an underframe therefor havingtubular bars respectively disposed beneath the deck adjacent to itslongitudinal edges, and engaging the under side of the deck throughoutthe major portion of its length, the ends of the bars extendingdownwardly at the edges of the deck and thence horizontally to form legsand feet adjacent to the corners of the deck, and bracing elementsconnected with the legs near their lower ends and extending upwardly tothe underside of the deck to support the corner portions thereof.

7. A pallet comprising a deck sheet secured upon an underframe ofgenerally rectangularlyarranged bars that are respectively disposedbeneath the deck adjacent to and generally arallel to each edge thereof,those portions of each bar near the corners of the deck extendinglaterally in a downwardly and outwardly sloping direction from theadjacent deck edges, and thence extending horizontally, and a horizontalbar connecting the sloping leg portions at each corner of the deck, at aplane intermediate the upper and lower ends of the legs.

BURTON C. COIT, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

